Skip to main content

The Best 25 Players in the Championship

One evening during November four fans of different Championship clubs spent a large part of the evening discussing who they thought had claims to be the best players in the league.

An idea was born.  Fast forward a couple of weeks and in a twist to the usual advent calendar format, a series was launched and has spent December working through a different footballer each day, counting through the top 25 players in the second tier.

Written partly by myself, in conjunction with three excellent writers,
Joe Harrison (Cardiff - View from the Ninian);
John Verrall (Peterborough - Standing on the Glebe);
David Bevan (Leicester - and our esteemed host via The Seventy Two)
we initially took views from fans from all clubs via forums and Twitter to come up with a shortlist, with more than 70 names nominated. 

This list was then reduced via voting on Twitter from followers of @the72football, and here it is.  All 25 players, detailed with links so you can peruse at your pleasure.  Please note none of these are in any sort of order, other than the final one - the star voted as the best player in the Championship, and revealed on Christmas Day.  A wise man could do a lot worse than head to the South Coast with offers of gold, frankincense and myrrh!

Lists of this nature are always contentious, there are many players nominated that had strong claims whilst others may appear to be surprise inclusions.  There was even one player on this list who had fans of his own club commenting that he wasn't worthy!

The series has had remarkable success, with record number of views on The Seventy Two so please read, enjoy and share as you wish.

THE BEST 25 PLAYERS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP - AS VOTED FOR BY YOU

KEVIN MCNAUGHTON - CARDIFF CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/01/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-voted-for-by-you-part-1-of-25/

CRAIG MACKAIL-SMITH - BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/02/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-%e2%80%93-voted-for-by-you-part-2-of-25/

ALBERT ADOMAH - BRISTOL CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/03/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-voted-for-by-you-part-3-of-25/

ANDY KING - LEICESTER CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/04/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-voted-for-by-you-part-4-of-25/

GARY TAYLOR-FLETCHER - BLACKPOOL:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/05/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-5-of-25/

CHRIS BURKE - BIRMINGHAM CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/06/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-6-of-25/

RICKIE LAMBERT - SOUTHAMPTON:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/07/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-7-of-25/

GRANT MCCANN - PETERBOROUGH UNITED:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/08/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-8-of-25/

NICKY MAYNARD - BRISTOL CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/09/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-9-of-25/

ROSS MCCORMACK - LEEDS UNITED:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/10/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-10-of-25/

JIMMY KEBE - READING:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/11/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-11-of-25/

KASPER SCHMEICHEL - LEICESTER CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/12/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-12-of-25/

GEORGE BOYD - PETERBOROUGH UNITED:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/13/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-13-of-25/

WILFRIED ZAHA - CRYSTAL PALACE:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/14/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-14-of-25/

JAY RODRIGUEZ - BURNLEY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/15/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-15-of-25/

ROBERT SNODGRASS - LEEDS UNITED:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/16/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-16-of-25/

BILLY SHARP - DONCASTER ROVERS:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/17/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-17-of-25/

JAMES CHESTER - HULL CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/18/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-18-of-25/

KEVIN NOLAN - WEST HAM UNITED:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/19/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-19-of-25/

MARVIN EMNES - MIDDLESBROUGH:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/20/the-best-25-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-by-you-part-20-of-25/

LEE CAMP - NOTTINGHAM FOREST:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/21/the-best-25-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-by-you-part-21-of-25/

PETER WHITTINGHAM - CARDIFF CITY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/22/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-22-of-25/

JACOB BUTTERFIELD - BARNSLEY:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/23/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-23-of-25/

MARK NOBLE - WEST HAM:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/24/the-25-best-players-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you-part-24-of-25/

ADAM LALLANA - SOUTHAMPTON
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/25/the-best-player-in-the-championship-as-voted-for-by-you/

AND FINALLY....a summary of the series, from the72:
http://theseventytwo.com/football-league/championship/2011/12/11/the-best-players-in-the-championship-a-rare-celebration/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Cotterill was sacked

In the end, it was very sudden.  In a season where pressure has increasingly grown on Steve Cotterill for all sorts of reasons, an unknown combination of a lacklustre, exhausted-looking performance at home to Preston, an unsavoury altercation with an abusive ‘supporter’ at the end of that game, or perhaps a behind-the-scenes disagreement over transfer policy look to have ultimately curtailed his time at Ashton Gate. No manager these days can win just four out of 28 games in a season, be in the bottom three, and expect to be impervious to the threat of being sacked. But given such an incredulous level of success last season, Cotterill was surely closer than most to having a level of credit in the bank to be given until the end of the season? I share views with many as a general principle where I wish all clubs would give mangers more time to build, but the days of giving a manager the luxury of years of under-achievement, of the type Alex Ferguson enjoyed, resulting in a ...
12 comments
Read more

Bristol City: Our Greatest Team to the Ashton Gate Eight

Back in 2014, I was invited by the Two Unfortunates website to write about Bristol City's greatest team. It was a story which, of course, ended ultimately in the story of the Ashton Gate 8. Since the site of the original post has long since gone, here it is republished in full. "Eight players with more than 80 years at the club and more than 2,000 appearances between them, cast aside as unwilling saviours" Sometimes, events occur that make you realise your true standing in life. When the emotional mask of expectation is removed and those rose-tinted spectacles are lowered onto the brow of the nose, you can realise that things aren’t quite all they seem. And so it was for me, a lifelong Bristol City fan, when I was asked to talk about our greatest ever team. For when it came down to it, there was only one real choice. One genuinely great team that I could write about even in the perspective-bending world of football and this was one I hadn’t even had the privilege of seein...
Post a Comment
Read more

Up in smoke. England's Ashes tour 2025/26 review and player ratings

High on hope, low on delivery. England are heading towards yet another heavy away Ashes defeat, with an overriding feeling of frustration and annoyance at what could have been. Despite a largely woeful winter, it doesn’t feel like they’ve been too far away from having a chance of claiming a rare victory, which makes the scale of the failure all the more galling. Mitchell Starc and Travis Head have been the huge difference makers and deserve to be joint Men of the Series. Steve Smith delivered in Sydney, whilst Alex Carey has proven himself to be the world’s best wicket-keeper. Other than that, there hasn’t been a lot to scare England. Major Australian absences opened the door. Starc, and more latterly Scott Boland, have dragged their attack through the series. Thirty years of worrying about Shane Warne and Nathan Lyon ended with a complete lack of spin option. Other than Head, Smith and Carey, no Aussie batter averaged over 28. Ultimately, though, it was a series defined by brainle...
Post a Comment
Read more